20% believe health officials promote child vaccines even though they "know these vaccines cause autism and other psychological disorders."

49% of Americans believe at least one of these theories and 18% believe at least three.

The findings underscore the public's lack of trust in government and big businesses, especially drug companies, said study co-author Eric Oliver, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago.

"People who embrace these [medical conspiracy theories] are not less health-conscious," said Professor Oliver. "They're just less likely to embrace traditional medicine."

TV stars Kristin Cavallari and Jenny McCarthy recently made headlines after revealing they won't vaccinate their children because they believe vaccines cause autism (one of the conspiracy theories outlined above).

McCarthy has an 11-year-old son, Evan, who has autism. She believes Evan's autism was caused by the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine he received as a baby. In 2007, McCarthy was heavily criticized after launching an anti-vaccine movement.

"We need to get rid of the toxins, the mercury — which I am so tired of everyone saying has been removed," said McCarthy. "It has not been removed from the shots."

It's not surprising the public is suspicious of big businesses after the shocking conspiracy Big Tobacco was involved in for decades. In 1994, the CEOs of seven tobacco companies perjured themselves after testifying under oath that "Nicotine is not addictive" (see video above), notwithstanding incontrovertible scientific proof confirming otherwise.

Subsequent class-action lawsuits revealed that Big Tobacco executives deliberately concealed evidence of the addictive nature of nicotine and of the link between cigarette-smoking and cancer.

Government health guidelines are equally suspect, especially in light of recent findings that longstanding government positions on issues like saturated fat has been wrong for four decades.

Saturated fat has been blamed for causing obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and high cholesterol for the past 40 years. During this time, all of these diseases have exploded, in part due to government-mandated low-fat, high-carb dietary recommendations.

Many leading medical experts now say unprocessed saturated fat is healthy, and actually prevents obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. The real cause of cardiovascular disease, obesity, and diabetes is a high-carb diet, they say.

In October 2013, cardiologist Aseem Malhotra rocked the nutrition world with his declaration that unprocessed saturated fat is good for you.

In his research, Dr. Malhotra found no evidence that a high-fat diet causes heart attacks, obesity or diabetes. If anything, he said consuming healthy fats (like those found in grass-fed meat, coconut oil, butter, olive oil, salmon and avocados) protect against these diseases.

Dr. Malhotra said the vilification of saturated fat for the past 40 years was due to corporate greed — not a concern for public health.

The food industry has profited from the low-fat mantra for decades because foods that are marketed as low-fat are often loaded with sugar. We are now learning that added sugar in food is driving the obesity epidemic and the rise in diabetes and cardiovascular disease.”

Dr. Eric Westman, director of the Duke University Obesity Clinic, is pleased that mainstream media is finally dispelling the myth that eating fat makes you fat and sick. To the contrary, he said: Eating fat makes you skinny and healthy.

"Eat lots of fat," said Dr. Westman, author of A New Atkins for a New You. "There's no problem with fat. In fact, saturated fat — the fat that we've been taught not to eat — raises your good cholesterol best of all the foods you can eat."

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Samantha Chang is the executive editor and co-owner of www.theimproper.com., an arts and entertainment website in New York City. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Samantha enjoys running, cycling and taking photos. Contact her at schang@theImproper.com.